A very interesting question! If you don’t mind, I think it’s probably worthy of its own thread. Probably will be an interesting discussion. Again, lessons and comparisons of different aspects of different cultures are always very educational.
I think Chicagoans have a very distinctive accent, as would New Yorkers for instance. Words in Chicago like “van” are pronounced almost as a two syllable word, but in a different way as, say, a West Virginian would with a southern dialect. I think it’s true that mid to southern Illinois has migrated more toward southern-style speech patterns but here in northern Illinois, I think Chicago has the stronger influence. Once when living in West Virginia, my sister’s elementary school teacher tried to teach the class that the word “door” was a two-syllable word. She even clapped out the syllables as she spoke them.
It doesn’t take too long driving north into Wisconsin before the northern accents come out to play. If I was to bet, I’d wager that the accents start to appear just north of Madison.
I’ve lived in the north (Upper Michigan), the south (Texas), Appalachia (West Virginia), the east coast (Maryland/Virginia), and the Midwest (Ohio/Indiana/Illinois) so I’ve heard quite a variation of accents and dialect. Personally, I love northern speak the best. Might have something to do with the fact that I’m originally from 'da U.P., eh?
Bruce
edit: I once tried to get a gallery going (in the real pictures gallery) of greetings from around the world, http://gallery.unicyclist.com/greetings
I thought it would be fun to hear the different accents of folks from around the world but the gallery died a peaceful death with no participation.
people from the midwest have a midwest accent and tend to talk out their nose…having lived in Chicago, St. Louis, and now NC I can safely say the accents in the midwest are far from Southern
This may be true, but the fact remains that accents or not we maintain our unique regional stupidities. We are still as distinct as ever in this respect but it’s just getting harder to discern.
it just seems like people around here have like anti accents, like just plain normal american voices, kinda like actors and stuff who just dont have any accents, that what it seems like here.
it kept telling me that it couldn’t resize or compress that kind of file and i just kept trying
it must be in there like 5 times by now?!?
can i clear them out?
aha, just saw the updated page
it’s in there 3 times
can u delete two of them?
i can’t seem to delete anything in that gallery
tell her to tell someone at Radio 4
i would happily move to the UK if i could secure a radio gig
at the moment i’m working on Retail radio in South Africa
but enough of that, we need the next recording to be entered into the gallery
i want to hear if Harper sounds as good as he looks…
